บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Rangers vs Aberdeen 1996

stakes. Well, before we get... more into the stories and the game itself. We obviously like to do a little quiz, so why don't you open our quiz for the week? Yeah, as we're visiting Scotland, and Andy and I do have Scottish blood, and I realise this might come across as two Englishmen talking a lot about Scottish football like we know what we're talking about, but I thought I'd do a Scottish-based question, and every day's a school day, so even if you don't know the answers, it will perhaps help us learn a little bit more about Scotland. In Scotland, there have been 11 clubs that have won the Scottish Top Flight League title. So only 11 different winners in the whole of the Scottish football history, starting in 1890. I want to see, can you name all 11 clubs that have won a Scottish league title? I would be amazed if I can name all 11. Are they all still existing clubs? We're not talking about old Atonians and stuff. So there are nine existing clubs. and two that no longer exist. However, one of those two that no longer exists. You might have a chance. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think I could probably get seven or eight. Yeah. Well, I'm sure everyone's going to get two or three. Minimum of two. At least three. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Great question. That's really brilliant. Great. Well, you've obviously set up the kind of stakes of the title race and how important this game is. But Before we go into that, just because you've mentioned how well Celtic are doing and obviously Rangers have been so dominant through this period. So who is, why are Celtic doing so well? Who's their manager? What have they been doing to play so well? Well, Tommy Burns is their manager and it's a real renaissance from Celtic and actually what they've been doing, which is what a lot of clubs in Scotland have been doing and something we're going to get into is they've been starting to spend some money. They've brought some big players in in the summer and they've bought in some big foreign players. They've bought in Andreas Thon. and George Cadet, and they've been getting a lot of goals from one Pierre Van Hoidonck. So they're really starting to look like a decent outfit and a side that could actually potentially challenge Rangers and perhaps pull back one of these titles and stop Rangers doing this sort of march to 10 in the row, which is what they're really targeting. Interesting. Yeah, they mentioned in commentary in this game, don't they, that Van Hoidonck has scored a hell of a lot of goals for Celtic, whereas Rangers have spread the goals around a bit more, which we'll obviously come on to when we... Talk about the nature of that Rangers team and how star-studded it is. But why don't we, just because to give you a bit of context, the Scottish league has changed in its makeup and everything over the years. How does the Scottish league work in 1996? Yeah, it's a little bit cleaner, but it's a small league. There are only 10 teams in it. So you play each team four times, twice

at home, twice away, a 36-game season. And also what they do in Scottish football, they've got three tournaments. So we've got obviously the Scottish Cup. the Scottish League. There's the Scottish League Cup and what they do in Scotland at this period is they wrap the League Cup up in the first half of the year. But in terms of this game, Aberdeen have won the League Cup this season and they're actually on a bit of a kind of upturn themselves. They beat Rangers in the semi-finals, so this is a little bit of a grudge match as well for Rangers to perhaps could have won the treble that year if it hadn't been for Aberdeen stopping them in the semi-finals. Aberdeen then went on to win the Cup themselves. Aberdeen are up high in the league as well and it's been a huge turnaround for them under Roy Aitken. So Roy Aitken, their current manager, who's a bit of Celtic legend, so not a lot of love for Rangers, he took over the season before when Aberdeen were on the verge of getting relegated. His first game was against Rangers and Aberdeen won 2-0 and he kept Aberdeen up that season and then this summer he's gone out and spent some money. He's brought in two players in particular, Bernard, the midfielder, who we'll see they've paid a million pounds for. from Oldham Athletic, a club record, and one Dean Windass, who they have spent 750,000 on. And he's only just joined them. They've spent that during the season. So he's a very new addition to this Aberdeen team. He's only been there I love seeing Dean Windass in this game. Yeah. It was a real nostalgic. Because he looks so young as well. He does look young. You imagine him. He doesn't look like he did when he scored that playoff final goal for Hull. No. Well, he seems to be a little bit lighter at this point in time. But he's still a character. He gets into a bit of trouble up in Scotland. One game he could have been sent off three times before he got sent off on the field. Then he verbally assaulted the referee, which would have been another sending off and then kicked the corner flag off. And so he got real banned when he was up there. But he was, you know, he's just like we expect Dean Windhast to be, full of character, full of... Yeah, I really like Dean Windhast as a player. I wonder as well the appeal to him going up there. I don't know if this is true or not. But he's the sort of guy that you can imagine he idolises Gaza and to get to go up and play against Gaza. Because he wouldn't have done that when he was playing. Because he wouldn't have been playing when Gaza was playing in the English league, he? No, And he's been... He's come from Hull and they've had financial troubles and so they have to sell him. And this is the interesting thing about Scottish football at this time, is playing in the Scottish Premier League. is a big deal. Whereas nowadays you go, would be a really tough sell for even a championship level player, I would say. But, and then we'll get onto this when we talk about Low Drop and Gascoigne in the thing. Because Scottish football has some money floating around it, it is able to attract some really good players from both England and abroad. And so you mentioned Rangers kind of want to get it done in front of their own fans and all of that. Have there been any kind of... blips along the way for them up until this point or have they been pretty dominant? You obviously mentioned Celtic have only lost once, so I guess Rangers must have been pretty dominant up until this point, they? They've been fairly dominant. So in their four clashes against Celtic, three have ended in draws, one victory for Rangers, which is the only defeat Celtic will suffer in the league that season. They've been great and domestically, in Europe it's quite interesting because I suppose that really positions where we think of in terms of Scottish football and this Rangers team. It's the Champions League, it's group stages, but we're still at the stage of only each nation just putting in the champion. So England have got Blackburn Rovers playing in the Champions League this year, who by the way, do terribly. Yeah, I remember that really vividly them doing so. They lost to Rosenberg, didn't they? They did. Well, Rangers have had a tougher group, so they've got Dortmund and they've got Juventus in their group. And they've done all right, know, draws against Dortmund, but Juventus who will win the Champions League that season. have trounced them twice. They've beaten them 4-1 in Italy and 4-0 at Ibrox. So those have been... That was that dodgy Juventus team, wasn't it? Isn't this the one that Gary Neville's talked about? Yeah, it could be. They're a slightly enhanced Juventus team. But, know, with Viale and Ravinelli and Del Piero up front, as they're front three, yeah, you know, some really great players and have blown Rangers off the park. But interestingly, this is part of reason why Rangers have spent money. is that when the Champions League started in 92-93, the last eight teams went into two groups and it was actually a final with the winner of two groups. So there was no semi-finals. And Rangers got within a whisker of making the final. In their final group game, they drew. If they'd won their final group game, if they'd won, they would have made the 93 Champions League final. And I suppose that 92-93 team is the peak of this Water Smith Rangers era. They win the treble that year. They almost make the European Cup final. Annie McCoy scores 50 goals and that is an incredible team. And there's still five players from that team in this starting 11 that we're watching today, but they're trying to add in that little bit of quality to just go further in Europe. It's not enough for them to just win domestically. But actually as they do well and the Scottish league does well and the Scottish league is being shown on Sky Television, so the other clubs in Scotland are starting to... beef up a little bit as well. So it's not been a total runaway success for

them this season. Obviously lost to Aberdeen as well in the League Cup. The five players from that Champions League run being in the starting 11, I think that takes us nicely onto why don't we dive in and look at those starting 11s. let's start with Rangers. They're playing a 3-4-3, but at times it looks a bit 4-4-2, but I guess that's just how formations end up sometimes looking. that banker four thing when they're defending and things. But in goal, they've got Andy Gorham, who everyone will remember. If you remember 90s Scottish football, their back three is Alan McLaren, Richard Goff, who is the captain, isn't he? That's right. John Brown. Right midfield is Trevor Stephen. Central midfield, Stuart McCall and Paul Gascoigne. And left midfield is David Robertson. So if you think of Trevor Stephen and Robertson are really wing backs in this in the formation, aren't they? And then there's a front three of Gordon Jury, who's just signed this season as the Eric Bo Anderson is the number nine and then Brian Loudrup is the other makes up the final of that front three and then Aberdeen. They're playing a four four two, but it's a bit of a diamond shape and they've got Michael Watt in goal. Stuart McKinney at right back and then at center back. They have got John Inglis and Brian Irvine at left back Gary Smith and then they have Rousen in the kind of holding midfield role. Paul Bernard in the kind of central right midfield role. Stephen Glass in the left midfield and Dean Windass as you mentioned at the top of that diamond and then up front they've got Scott Booth and Billy Dodds and I remember Billy Dodds very well. I feel like I remember Dodds from around that time. He had more success after this when he moved to Rangers. So he ended up playing up front for Rangers and becoming Scotland's main striker for a couple of seasons. So is there anyone particularly from those two lineups, there's obviously the big name Rangers players that I'm sure we'll cover as the pod goes on, but is there anyone else you wanted to pick out particularly from either Rangers or from Aberdeen? Well, just in terms of, so the players that were part of this kind of long-standing Rangers title-winning team, are really that kind. So you've got Andy Gorham, you've got Richard Goff, John Brown, there's a lovely story about John Brown in that he played against, because Graham Soonest was player manager when he took over at Rangers, John Brown and Graham Soonest had a real coming together and a real physical altercation. And of course, Graham Soonest being Graham Soonest, three days later decided I need to sign this player. So bought the guy that he had a fight with and brought him into the Rangers dressing room. And John Brown was a childhood Rangers fan. And although he didn't have the international career of some of these other players, was considered one of the real solid men in the dressing room and someone that almost Roy Keane-esque put down the standards along with Richard Goff. So he was a bit of a hero for them in the Rangers team. In the Aberdeen team, I suppose one thing to notice is that really their best player from this season is missing. So they had a guy called Joe Miller who had started at Aberdeen under Ferguson, then gone to Celtic, had a great career there, been Celtic captain. and has come back to Aberdeen, had a really good season this year, he scored 10 goals, but he's missing today. And so David Rolson, who's played in the midfield, he's sort more of a fringe player that's come into the team. And one other player that's worth mentioning is Stephen Glass on the left wing, someone that we might know because he moved obviously to Newcastle. Nice story of him this season, I mentioned Aberdeen have won the League Cup. In the League Cup final, he set up both the goals, they won 2-0, and he was awarded with the Man of the Match prize of a mountain bike. for being man in the match in the League Cup final. And he's, I suppose, the kind of younger player that people are looking at and thinking he could really kick on and do something. Yeah, and he plays quite well in this game. I remember him. A lot of these guys, the memory I get of them, is playing Championship Manager back in those days. And I think I played a bit of Scottish Football Championship Manager. As you mentioned, we both have Scottish heritage and my family are all from Aberdeen. So I think I probably did play as Aberdeen. I remember Stephen Glass being quite a good player in Champions. manager around this time. yeah. Well, it's funny about Aberdeen, what I didn't realise until I read this, that actually there is a bit of a strong hatred and rivalry towards Rangers as Aberdeen became the sort of dominant team. Apparently there's a chant that Aberdeen fans sing when they play Celtic, which is, we hate Rangers more than you do. So Aberdeen really, you know, want to try and stop Rangers today if they possibly can. As you mentioned, Rangers are playing this 3-4-3. I guess before we dive into the game itself, Is that quite a new formation for them or have they always been playing 3-4-3 through dominant time or what's the evolution of that? Well, I spent a long time trying to work out what the formation was because a lot of lineups do have it, like you say, as a 4-4-2. But then I was like, well, Trevor Steven is wearing the number two shirt. And almost it seemed to me that Rangers, very early on, really target the right-hand side. And Brian Louderup drifts across. So it's almost at one point that you feel like you've got three right wingers. So you've got Trevor Stephen pushing up, you've got Gordon Jory drifting out there and Brian Loudrup. And actually that's something that Rangers are known for. Aberdeen have tried to counter that today by playing a centre back at left back to just try and deal with the threat down that right hand side. And Stuart McCool talks a little bit about the fact that once Gaz has come into the team. they've tried to

modify the team to allow Gaza the freedom. So, Lowdrop and Gaza are basically told by Walter Smith, you'd go where you think you should go and do what you want to do. And so, it's almost in one way, they then kind of back five and a holding midfielder and a forward up there to support Gaza and Lowdrop having a total kind of free reign. And Walter Smith says to Gaza, you're too good, I need to let you do whatever you want. And I hate that was apparently one of the quotes together. Brilliant. Brilliant. Let's get into the game itself. So kick off. And I would say, well, first of all, it's great watching like nineties footballers and see these kind of guys who just look like they have they are from the nineties. They're so nineties. They're like Stuart McCall is a great example of that. Yeah. Absolutely. Just look like you're from the nineties. And they wear their shorts quite guys, almost like Simon Cowlite's shorts, shirts tucked in, the referee looks like he's had his hair cut by Lego. mean, it's got a real definite look to it. You would know that this is from the 90s. And we don't want to body shame too much, but there's definitely a few guys who are like, OK, I don't know how professional the standards are in Scotland in the 90s, because Gazza, mean, Gazza is an obvious one, but there's a few others where you're like, hmm. yeah. Andy Gorham in Gull, definitely carrying a little bit. Absolutely. That was almost allowed with goalkeepers though in the 90s. I remember Neville said it was like, well, goalkeepers don't need to be fit. Yeah. Although with Gazza, apparently the Rangers players from this summer said, you take his top off, he's ripped underneath it. He looks stocky and looks big. He's just a stocky. He's like a bit Rooney or something. Yeah. And it's interesting, starting the game early, Rangers are fairly dominant in terms of where the, I guess nowadays they call it like field tilt or whatever, don't they? Where the ball is being played. tends it's quite heavily in Aberdeen's half early in the game, isn't it? In that first 15 minutes and Aberdeen are getting the ball, but they're not really getting it. I would say in the final third of Rangers territory for the first 15 minutes anyway. No, you're right. And as Aberdeen, I think sit deep. So Gaza rather than go into the melee of where all of the Aberdeen defenders are. He actually himself goes deep, so he's got a lot of time, almost like a perlo, like sitting back and picking the ball up and driving with it. You see early on, I mean, we used to have a term when we played football as kids, which was hogger. He's a hogger, he hogs the ball. And Gazza does do a little bit of that. does, you know, he's always up for running with it, isn't he? He is. It's interesting where he's positioned, because he said he is quite deep early on in particular. And I guess there, but it makes sense when you were saying that about that free roll thing, because I guess... in a way it feels like Lowdrop's got the free roll in the final third and he's doing all the you moving around across that front three and picking up the ball in different areas and Gazza is almost responsible for the ball in the deeper areas and the mid and the two-thirds before you get to the final third almost. It's interesting though watching Gazza and Lowdrop in those bits because they have got so much flair and creativity about them. I was watching this clip that had gone viral this week, which was a guy saying to young footballers what you have to do to stand out at a trial. And he said it's only three things for a modern footballer. Number one, your touch. Your touch is everything, so make sure your touch is good. Number two, when you get a chance to sprint, sprint. We want to see fast players. And number three, just communicate because we're looking for personality. And that's it. Touch it, run around, talk. But Gaza, it's just skill after skill after skill and louder up. And I can remember I had a video of Gazza skills when I was a kid that we used to watch it was all step overs and drag backs and he's doing all of them in this game. I mean, every time he's got the ball, he sort of drops a shoulder and he turns in another direction. It's really, I think perhaps this was the reason why he was so popular, not so much his achievements or even his personality. He's a really great footballer to watch. He's doing something exciting when he gets the ball. He's interesting though, I would say in this game, we'll get into this a bit later. I felt like... Comparing him to Gazza, suppose, of the late 80s and when he was at Spurs in the 90s, and obviously he's had the injuries since then to this point, he was more in this game of... had flashes, didn't he? He did it in bursts, and then there was quite a bit of time where you're like, he's not really doing that much at the moment. He's sort of moving it on. And I just wondered if he, at this point in his career, is being quite intelligent about when he picks his moments to really... shine but he it's interesting because obviously he has a huge impact on this game so that works for him quite well but we then get to around 15 minutes in and there's the first big incident there's been a few little moments and chances and stuff but the first big incident of the game is a collision between two players between Brian Irvine and Richard Goff and Goff comes away and he's got Terry Butcheress he's bleeding and and got the kind of headband and all that Yeah, it seems to me that bloody heads happened a lot more in the old days. Maybe I'm wrong, but yeah, they go out for a header, both really cracking to each other. But of course, it's the 90s. They just, you know, wrap him up and he's ready to go straight away and sort of, you know, carries on. it kind of, it suits his reputation. I suppose Richard Goff, he was known as a real kind of tough guy. I didn't realise you might know this as a Spurs fan. He was the captain of Tottenham when they were in

FA Cup final and they lost to Coventry. He did at Spurs. He'd won the title in Scotland. I won't tell you who he was playing for, but he won the title in Scotland and then moved to Tottenham for £750,000, which was a lot of money in the 80s. He one season there, did well, but Rangers were starting to spend money themselves and went, well, we'll bring him back to Scotland. and they paid a million quid for him. And he's become the captain and the leader of this sort of Rangers team, with big voice in the dressing room as well, apparently. So yeah, he's there, bloody, bloody head and headband on very Terry Butcher, as I say. And then about four minutes later, it's not going to go the way we think it does in this game straight away. That's a chance for the Dons. And it's Goffoet here and it's Irvine! And Aberdeen sensationally take the lead. Well, Brian Irvine who had just come back onto the field. Yeah. Yeah. And it's the two men that collided heads just a moment before. They go up for it again. Irving looks like perhaps he gets his head on it, but it's certainly blocked by Richard Goff or maybe Goff gets there first. But it just falls perfectly for Irving in the area and tops it in. Gorham gets a hand on it, but can't stop it. And Aberdeen 1-0 up. Yeah, and amazing. And it must be quite nerve wracking for Rangers fans at this point you're thinking of. away, it's all going wrong, the title's on the line, all of that stuff. The commentator said something about the Celtic players can come out from behind the sofa and start watching this game now. And they must be thinking, well, this is it, we're going into the final game of the season, Rangers have got to go away to Kilmarnock and there's only a point between us. But that doesn't last long because about two minutes later, that man, Gazza, equalises for Rangers and it's a great goal. Gas going low, can he produce some magic? Still has gas going. yes! Rangers won! Abadie won! Yeah, really great goal. Loudrop corner knocks it out to Gazer on the edge of the box and you can almost see the Aberdeen players are kind of like trying to shuffle him a little bit onto his left foot. They're kind of trying to show him on the outside and Gazer goes, alright fine, I'll go on my left foot and I'll go outside. and he's got such great control and he's got such great strength. Did wonder, I don't know if you think, maybe you think, am I being harsh on the goalkeeper here? It's like almost a near post shot and drive past it. Yeah, I actually think it's also the other player. I know you mean that they, he's got good, he is actually taking it on his right, isn't he, quite a lot. He's showing them the ball on his right, because he finishes with his right. I do think there was an opportunity for someone to dive in. I think they're worried about giving away a penalty, is why they don't. But yeah, he's pretty close in though. I think the keeper's been a bit shaky. I thought he looked quite shaky, the Aberdeen keeper. But yeah, he probably could do a little bit better with it. I also think there's a few other Aberdeen players that could have done better in that moment. But it's also fantastic skill by Gazza. And maybe if they dive in, they get a penalty. So it's a bit tricky. But it's such an amazing moment of skill, right? And what it makes you think of it is that this guy It's the best moment of quality so far in the game. We're 20 minutes in and it's the first moment I would say of someone doing something that's genuinely exceptional quality and it just makes you go, well, he's still got that ability. Gasser. He's not, this isn't some washed up guy playing in Scotland. Obviously we remember, we know what happens in 96 in the euros as well. So he's still a top player for England as well. So how has he got from being really the darling of English football to playing north of the border for Rangers? Well, it's interesting you said a while back about choosing his moment. He has played so little football before he's come to Rangers. The season before at Lazio, he played four games. First season, so obviously he had a year off, or his last season at Tottenham he didn't actually play. There was supposed to be a transfer happen. He got injured, they waited for a year, he rehabilitated. He then went to Lazio. First season, got himself fit and actually did okay. If you can find, there are clips online of some goals he scored at Lazio and some great moments. They basically all happen in his first season. Second season has niggly injuries and then breaks his leg, misses the rest of 94. So actually if England had qualified for the 94 World Cup, he wouldn't have been fit anyway. Puts on a lot of weight when he gets injured. He's criticised a lot for that. When he comes back for this season, he only makes four appearances, doesn't score. There's a new manager, that's how Dino Zoff has gone. And they basically decide it's time to cash in. and if we can get the money back that we paid for him or close to it, then it's the time to do it. But there are a lot of people because he's hardly paid any football for three years that aren't really sure on taking a gamble on him. His choice comes down to three teams, Aston Villa, Chelsea or Rangers. He says, but I think this might be more Gazza trying to get a laugh at. He says no to Rangers because he thinks they mean Coupiard. But Walter Smith is the one of the three that flies out to Italy. and actually puts the time in and says, you've got to come and play for me, you've got to do it. Terry, he gets Terry Butcher to phone him as well. Terry Butcher says, I tell you what, Gazza, Scutchefoot was a lot better than you expect and you should go there and you should try it. And also, mean, Chelsea in 95 and Aston Villa in 95, not great teams. So he's off to Scotland and he's treated, welcomed like an absolute superstar. I bet, yeah. Probably the biggest name to go to Scotland. in the 90s. It's one of those signs that brings so many eyes to

the league generally that I can imagine everyone was pretty happy that he's arriving. But what do you think they think they're getting when they sign him? Do you think they think they're to be getting a slightly crocked Gazza or do they think that they can rehabilitate him? What the hope was, I can remember the announcement, I can remember where I was when it broke that Rangers were signing Gazza. At the time, he was like, this is unfathomable. That's huge. He's coming back to the UK and he's going to play in Scotland and wow. And straight from the off, scored in the first pre-season friendly. That's also where he made the mistake of pretending to play a flute because his teammates had told him that would be a funny thing to do. But with the Rangers Celtic sectarian thing, obviously wasn't a great idea. And I think if you look at the numbers and the stats... Gaza has two really great seasons in his career. One is post 1990 with Spurs and a few good years before Spurs before that, but you know, he scored nearly 20 goals that season, takes them to the Cup final. Brilliant. And I think his second great season is this one. You know, he is brilliant in this game and he's brilliant that summer of 96. And so for Rangers, you'd say the gamble paid off. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And it's interesting, isn't it? Maybe because it happens. in Scotland and the way that Scottish football has, I don't want to say gone downhill, that's too extreme, but the way that Scottish football has in subsequent years after this probably has gone down to 15 years. It has gone downhill a lot. Post the kind of Martin O'Neill heyday of Celtic. You haven't really had a Scottish team doing particularly well in Europe at all, have you? They've done And Celtic have been so dominant for the last 15 years. I know there was that title win under Gerrard, but it sort of has made it feel not as good a league really. And I wonder if we now retrospectively look back on what Gazra achieves and Rangers achieved in this era and all of that and don't take it as seriously maybe. Yeah. I think so, but at this time there was a huge discussion about whether Rangers and Celtic would join the English Premier League because the English Premier League was just starting and it wasn't so much driven by, well we need to leave the Scottish League, was because we kind of wanted them and so it was a suggestion. Yeah, well they're huge clubs. Absolutely massive clubs and actually what was really, I won't digress too much on this because I want to keep it about this particular game, but I had a look at the financial figures that were knocking around at this point in time. So Deloitte produced this list every year where they rank all of the clubs based on their revenue. So the year that this game is taking place, Rangers revenue of all of the clubs around the world puts them 14th on the list. They are right up there. The year after when they actually produce the figures, they're 16th on the list Rangers, so they've dropped a little bit. But it means that their revenue is above basically every club in England apart from Manchester United and... Liverpool and actually Newcastle are above them. So everyone else in England, your Arsenal's, your Tottenham's, your Aston Villa's, your Chelsea, their revenue is smaller than Rangers. In Walter Smith's six-year period, no other club in the United Kingdom spend as much money as he does. So we're talking about the era of Blackburn and Jack Walker and all that thing. Rangers spend more money, spend, I mean, their net, they counter it by selling players like Duncan Ferguson and... They sell Trevor Steven to Marseille for lots of money. But their actual spend is huge. And so they are going after these big names and trying to, you know, there's not many clubs that can offer European football because there's so few clubs partake in that top tournament and Rangers can do so. So that's got to be a draw. There are huge football and still are. That's the thing. Rangers and Celtic still are huge football clubs. I think the issue now is in today's game is that the quality of the other teams is is such that and that's the exciting thing about heart maybe coming back and everything isn't it is that making that league more competitive will actually be beneficial to Celtic and Rangers and other clubs as well. But anyway, that's about to this game. You like you say it's now one all and for about I would say 15 to 20 minutes Rangers are pretty dominant now and they start to to really motor, don't they? And there's a few good chances. And Gaza puts in a great cross, and McLaren hits the post with a header. there's a couple of other good moments as well. Aberdeen have a bit of danger on the counter attack. Scott Booth gets in one and one against Gorham. But it's very, I suppose, narrative of the game is Rangers are territory and ball dominant. And Aberdeen are getting chances on the break, basically. Yeah. It feels like everyone's like, relax now, okay, this is fine, we're back level, we'll score and we'll go on and win this game. It perhaps doesn't turn out as easy as that, but at this point in time, yeah, they're looking good. And you can see the quality of the players that Rangers have got, even people like the defenders, know, Gough and McLaren and what have you, their forward impetus is really great and you're thinking it would just be a matter of time. The other player that starts to stand out in towards the end of the second half is Lowdrup, isn't it? It's where he starts to, I think, come into his own a little bit and you start to see how clever a player he is and his movement and his dictating play. it's all, it's quite, he's a bit Birkamp-esque, isn't he, Brian Lowdrup? Yes, he is. I suppose perhaps a little bit more of a dribbler than Birkamp, but that's a really good analogy. And because I suppose... thing with Scottish football is that it is physical. This game is quite physical to watch and you can see it's,

know, lots of tough challenges and he doesn't look like someone that... He looks like someone that you might have a chance of knocking off the ball a little bit. He's quite light about him but his... Yeah, he's quite tall though. He's quite big guy, isn't he? not small. Yeah, I suppose so. I suppose so. He just looks a little bit up against some of these defenders, a little bit almost skinny to me. If you were playing against him you'd go, let's just... we'll try and stick him in there. Yeah, I do wonder how much of that is just because he's got the he's quite European looking good look like he's got the skin. He's got the I suppose slightly. Model S care and stuff and he he doesn't look like a rugged Scott like some of these guys obviously some of these guys do he looks quite elegant as a man and then he is elegant as a player. But I suppose what I mean is similar to Burkamp. He is not He's not a diminutive flighty player for those that don't know Brian Lowdrop. I'd say he's a, he must be over six foot and he's quite athletic of build and he's got pace and power to him in his running when he does run with the ball. But I do know what you mean. Yeah. He looks at, he got a bit of a Hugo Larice French poet air about him. Yeah. He has a little bit. what, what, he was another player. mean, I do remember him being there. And what took him to Rangers? I know there's this thing that Rangers are starting to spend money, he was a really great player. I he was part of the Danish team that won the Euros, wasn't he? He was. I mean, some people in the era, he was known perhaps slightly disparagingly as Michael Laudrup's brother. Michael Laudrup was one of the best players in the world, wasn't he? Yeah, absolutely. But Michael Laudrup didn't play in Euro 92, did he? But his brother did. So yeah, part of the Denmark team won in 92, had a great start with Brombury, really sort of caught the eye, moved to Germany for a team that I can't quite pronounce. A top-flight German team, I'm not even going to try to pronounce their name, but then had one good season in Germany playing for this sort of side and Bayern Munich bought him. And he did really well at Bayern Munich, was really popular, his performances were great, but Bayern Munich sucked at that point in time. and they finished 10th in his final season. And because they sucked and because Serie A was the league that everyone wanted to play in, that's where Brian Lowdrop had an eye on. He wanted to get to Italy and he got the opportunity to go and play for Fiorentina. So he signed for Fiorentina. He was only there playing for them for one season. And they had a really good team. They Batastuta up front and Brian Lowdrop. They were an amazing team. Rui Costa, those guys in that team. Right, but he arrived at the wrong time because they started the season well. and then their form dropped off so badly that they were relegated. So he'd gone, yeah, even with those players in the team. Now, but he did well, he scored

nine goals that season, which in Serie A was a lot of goals, and he'd done enough that he wasn't gonna go and play in Serie B. So AC Milan signed him on a year's loan with the idea being, well, Fiorentina will come back and then he can go back to them. But it was 1994, we're talking about Capello's in charge of Milan. and for people that listen to the last pod, there's still this three foreign role. So Milan have got seven foreign players in their squad, but can only pick three each game. So they've got seven. So every week he's got a choice of, you know, three spots for seven players and Brian Aldrup hardly plays, he plays 11 games. He's also not a very Capello player. And I think it's interesting. There's a bit of him thinking about the role he plays in this. It's very interesting time. in Italian football that around the evolution of those sort of more creative free role number 10e type players are getting squeezed out quite a lot and you look at Zola having to move to England really because people were saying there's no place for you. Baggio when he leaves Milan at a later point he's offered to Parma when Ancelotti is there and Ancelotti says very famously I don't have a place for badger in my four four two. So I'm not gonna cause it's the Saki four four two things become so prominent and he ends up I think that's when he ends up at Bologna, you know, so it's like that. can imagine the Aldrup even though he would wanted to have been there so much. He's maybe not the player to suit that Milan. absolutely. And to highlight the point of that AC Milan win the league that season. It's a 34 game season. Guess how many goals AC Milan scored that season under Compelo when they win the league in 94. Scored? How many they scored? How many goals they scored in a 34 game season to win the league? 50? 36. They win the league. They only concede 15. but they basically win every game. This is that era in our last pod where you were talking about Italian, your perception of Italian football, I think that comes from this Capello Milan era for sure. mean, obviously they do have flair players in Italy, I think it's, they are few and far between the ones that really are given the opportunities. And it is, I can imagine Laudrup being squeezed out as you're kind of saying. So does he go from Milan to Rangers? Yeah, so he basically towards the end of his loan at Milan, publicly says I don't want to go because he's only on loan I don't want to go back to Fiorentina so he's made available and Rangers come in they spend a decent amount of money for him pay him a decent amount of money and he comes to Scotland and the season before this game has been his first season in Scotland and he wins both the Scottish Football Writers and Scottish Players Player of the Year award and he's a great success he's done brilliantly last season he's doing brilliantly this season He'll also go on and do brilliantly next season as well. His time at Rangers is, fantastic. It's his most consistent time, I think, from memory at any club, isn't it? Yeah, because after that he goes to Chelsea and he's an absolute disaster at Chelsea. And I remember him there and was, I think, whether he gets some injuries or not, because when he came to Chelsea he just looked like, he just was way off it. And that's also that disparaging thing of, well, he's been playing in Scotland for years, what do you expect? But yeah, he really struggled and then bounced around other clubs. Yeah, and obviously he is playing for the most dominant team in Scotland. And as you mentioned, he's been given this free role. I just think football is moving. Eve, this is the beginning of this era of starting to not allow players to have completely free roles in teams. think that just, don't, when you're getting towards the late 90s, early 2000s, and you've got kind of particularly I don't know, Wenger at Arsenal, yes, okay, he does have a Burkamp and people, but they don't play three roles. It's quite tactically starting to evolve, isn't it? And obviously, so I just think maybe he's a player that just really needs that amount of license to be the best version of himself. It's really interesting. The other player he reminds me of a little bit of a modern context is Jal Felix. You know how the Portuguese guy, because you know how... Well, I tell you, they were both similar at Chelsea. When Felix came to Chelsea, he was also hopeless. He always played wide at Chelsea, didn't he? Yeah. And similarly, like he... The reason I bring it up is I think it's very interesting with him because he also hasn't had a great time when he went to Italy. He was at Milan and didn't do very well. And where he seems to operate best is in like a free role as a 10. I've seen him play a couple of times for Portugal recently doing that. And he's looked really good. And... I just wonder if they're these mercurial players a little bit that need that license to do that. And it's a shame in some ways that we've made these players obsolete because I thought he's a beautiful... In this game, I thought Loudrop was a beautiful player to watch. I really enjoyed watching him in this game. Yeah, and you're right about that free roll. mean, Letizier talks about his best two seasons at Southampton being under Alan Ball, where basically they played 4-4-1 and then Matt Letizier was told, well, you just do whatever you want. It would be great to see managers, I suppose, just back Tanon a little bit more, but I it's so much now that people think it's what Cole Palmer needs. You need to give Cole Palmer that. And it's why he's never going to be particularly in the reckoning with England because he will never get that when Bellingham is the round. And I think Palmer is most effective when he's allowed to just do that. But in relation to Loudrop in this game, like say... I really enjoy watching him in this game. just think he makes it exciting. He makes it quite beautiful in what is otherwise quite a rough and ready

game. It's quite a physical game and he is quite distinctive within the game because he's doing stuff that's... He's got the flicks, he's got the clever passes, he's got clever movement. I really enjoyed him. was probably actually the player I enjoyed watching the most in the game. that's interesting. I mean, I did think he was great, but I don't know if this is biased by me, but... just everything about Gaza, even the way he stands when he kicks the ball. It's a bit like Michael Jordan's branding which Beckham tried to emulate. You always knew Beckham's body from the way he hit a free kick and stuff like that and it became his branding. The way that Gaza moves, it's just so unique. But certainly applause rings from the stands now. But it's been a splendid first half. Ryan Irvine there giving Madonza lead after 19 minutes. A corner kick was sent in from the right. And with his left foot, he managed to get it beyond Andy Gorham. then Paul Gascoigne with a sub-par goal just two minutes later. He got away from Dodds and then Windus and picked his spot beyond Michael Watts. The half-time score here at Ibrook Stadium. Rangers have had a couple of chances, but they've not really cut them open. this point in it beyond the first goal. No, they haven't and they're they're strikers. Anderson is not looking great for me. I mean, he's a fairly new signing up front and he doesn't look like he's posing an awful lot of threat. I wouldn't say they start bringing up Ali McCoy on the bench. When is Ali McCoy is going to be brought into the fray to save Rangers that it already gets mentioned towards the end of the first half and I would this really shows how your childhood memories warp what you think of a player's career trajectory because I, in my head, because he scores in 96, doesn't he, for Scotland? He does, yeah. And I just remember him being the main man and I just thought Ali McQuist is the best player in Scotland or he's the best Scottish player in Scotland. And I then was like, why is he on the bench? Why is Ali McQuist on bench in this game? It's like a must-win game. So what's going on? Why is McQuist on the bench and where is he in his? in his Rangers career then? His Rangers career is incredible and full of goals but it's a little bit earlier than this. So in that amazing season I talked about where they win the treble and almost get to the Champions League final he scores 49 goals. The season before that he'd scored 39 goals. Both seasons had basically won the sort of European Golden Boot Award and then the following season broke his leg. So in the 93-94 season he only scored 11 goals and that injury went on into the following season, which is the season before this where he only played nine games and scored one goal. So it's been a real slow recovery. And this season he is recovering. mean, this season we're watching, he does end up scoring 20 goals in total. So he is coming back and he is starting to contribute, but he's not the same McCoyst he was. But there was a lovely moment where after his leg break, his first came back from the broken leg injury was a League Cup final. and he came off the bench and he scored an overhead kick to win it, which was almost a moment out of, have you ever seen his film that he did with Robert DeValle, A Shot at Glory? Have you not? I'll tell you what, right? I'm gonna say that Annie McQuist is the best soccer playing actor I've ever seen. He's better than Cantona, he's better than Vinny Jones. Maybe Robert DeValle really helped him, but he's What about, is he better than Pelle in Escape to Victory? Wow, I Pelle's got some lovely comic timing in Escape to Victory, but Annie McQuist does a really decent- job in this film and the goal that he scores in this League Cup final after his injury, they show a clip of in Shot at Glory. I can really imagine that because you know what, I love Alan McCorrie, I love him as a player, like my memory of him as a player, you know when I was younger, I I was only 10 in in 96 so I don't have huge memories of him as a player but I remember just he's such an infectious personality to watch. And I love him as a commentator now. think he's a really good commentator. I think he really definitely understands the game really well. And he's also very funny. I think everyone is hard not to like Alan McCoist, isn't it? Yeah. I think you can. So it's great. He comes on on 60 minutes, replaces Anderson. And I guess that's interesting you saying about the injury. So they must have replaced him in the time that he was out injured, right? They must have signed some players to cover for him being out for two years. Yeah. Or they Duncan Ferguson was the first one that they thought would be his replacement. But obviously that didn't work out and then eventually got rid of him to Everton. They had Hayley there, although Hayley often used to play with McCoy's, but they brought in Gordon Durie this season, Eric Bo Anderson. Later they'll bring in Marco Negri. There is a whole kind of list of strikers that come through trying to fill his boots. None of them quite manage it really. No, but they're building a lot of pressure and as you say, McCoy's come on at 62 minutes and gets... a pretty good opportunity. Lowdrop creates a really good chance for him, doesn't he? He puts in a ball, kind of a cross, which comes to McCoy's, I think. Yeah, absolutely. What I started to notice at this point in the game is Gazza's position shifts. So Gazza throughout the first half has played, I would describe it, although it's interesting, saw McCoy describe Gazza as a box-to-box midfielder, but he sort of sits for me and plays a bit more of a playmaker role in the first half. But now you see him right up and around the Abilene penalty area. And it's a little bit like for me, like that best player of school has gone, right, we need to score, right, I'm going up front and just kind of... It reminded me a little bit of Gerrard, where when Gerrard was in Liverpool,

when he would want to get on the ball deep and be a bit of a... those Hollywood passes and dictate the play. But actually where you really want Gerrard is 25 yards out and closer, because that's where he would have the best chance of influencing the game. And I think it's similar with Gaza here. You want Gaza in the positions where he's dribbling into the box. And as with his first goal in the first half, people don't want to dive in because they'll give away a penalty. So he's going to get an opportunity. So yeah, no, that makes total sense that they kind of, pushes himself forward to, I guess, influence the game and also Rangers are so dominant with the ball at this point. It's like, you don't need him taking the ball off the centre backs. You need him up there. So But Aberdeen do still have a few opportunities, don't they? They do, yeah. Glass and Booth we mentioned earlier for Aberdeen and Glass, like I say, is getting bit of rough treatment. You mentioned his transfer to Newcastle. I remember Booth, I think Booth ends up at Dortmund or something. Yeah, that's right. was touted to have a season early on in his career where he scored 20 goals and everyone was like, this is the next guy, but didn't actually then get a move and Aberdeen's form dropped and his form dropped. So he was one of the first players to take advantage of the Bosman thing. So he wound down his contract and then went, well, where can I go around Europe for free? Went to Brissier Dortmund, but didn't really break into the first team. He sort of played 10 games in their first season and then less. Ended up then going to Netherlands, bounced around a few clubs there. coming back to Aberdeen. So, it never really never perhaps hit the heights, filled his potential. Same with Glass, right? Went to Newcastle, did play in the 1999 FA Cup final against United but injuries and you know, became a squad player, ended up at Watford. I remember seeing him play a few times for Watford actually, he's leading Glass. Yeah and I think this is the other reason we're talking about perception maybe of Gaz's time at Rangers. We talk about it now, don't we about players moving from actually you get it a lot now talking about the Bundesliga attacks, don't you? But it's all like Verts and him struggling at Liverpool and and things like that. When you've got players moving, you mentioned loud drop not doing very well at Chelsea. When you've got players moving from from Rangers and other teams within Scotland and coming to the Premier League or other leagues, top leagues in Europe and not really having much of an impact. it starts to get a perception then on that league that the quality is not probably very high. Well, and the same, unfortunately, although I do think we see a decline in Gaza and his life starts going off the rails. But Gaza as well, when he moves to Middlesbrough, it's not, you know, he's not the same player. But, you know, I want to defend Scots because I'm watching this game on the

eye test. I would say this doesn't feel massively different to other games that we've watched from this era from the English Premier League. thinking about? Absolutely not. I think a higher standard than some of the Premier League team. think Rangers certainly would have done well in the Premier League in that era with the players they've got. I'm not saying they would have been winning the league or anything, but they would have been a good team in the Premier League in that era. And then as the game sort of kind of develops, you say, Gaz is sort of trying to force the issue a little bit more and has that impact on 80 minutes, doesn't he? Gets the second goal. Dean Winders had a header which was touched over by Gorham. It's been very evenly balanced. Here's Gascoigne now, pushing forward, showing great determination! 2, Aberdeen 1, and Ibrox goes absolutely wild. Well, I did say he was perhaps keeping something for the closing stages. He had gone a bit quiet, but was obviously keeping something for a lung-busting run. He goes right through the defence, and what a marvellous finish. Rangers 2, Aberdeen 1, and they're on course for 8th and a row. It's an incredible goal. There's so many great goals that Casas scored in his career, but this has got to be up there. Gets the ball inside his own half, I counted it, he takes eight touches. He beats two players to start off with, holds off two more, pace, strength control, and it's a left foot finish as well. It's a really, really brilliant goal. It reminded me a little bit of the Morgan Rodgers, if anyone's seen it, Morgan Rodgers' goal for Chelsea against Man United a couple of weeks ago, apart from this time the... Defenders do actually try and tackle, the athlete players. I did think they maybe could have brought him down. I don't know. They do try and get the ball off him, but they don't try and wipe him out, which I was like, why isn't anyone just wiping him out? Which you know what, I read an interview with McCool about playing with Gazza and he said that Gazza was so strong that actually his upper body strength, the way he used his arms, it was so difficult to get close to him. And he said that actually in Gazza in training, wouldn't do that because he almost felt like rude doing it with the Rangers teammates. He held it off for a match. And when he was on a match day, was like, boom, I'm going to really physically sort of impose myself. so, I think it's just it's an absolutely incredible goal. It is an incredible goal. And at this point, you know, now you're like, OK, two, one. Aberdeen haven't had that many chances. It's probably celebration time for Rangers and. they quite quickly have an impact, don't they, and get the third. Yeah, and it's McLaren really drives the ball forward, lays it off to Jury, and Jury goes up against this record signing for Aberdeen, Bernard, and they link arms, and Bernard pulls him down. Now, I would think at this point, you'd go, you've got Ali McQuist on the field, you one of the greatest goal scorers and penalty takers Rangers have ever had. Surely we want to seal off this time. And they're talking about this maybe being his last game. I don't know if there was rumors that he was going to leave, but they're saying this might be his last game at Ibrox. So you really would think that, but maybe he knows something that the commentators don't. So they give the ball to Gazza. Six minutes gone and Rangers have won the championship. Gasgoyne has scored the hat-trick. And there's absolute jubilation all around these stands. I would say that in terms of achievements, this is, you know, probably the... Is it fair to say this is the greatest day of Gazza's career? Because the Cup final is tarnished, the Euro 96, great, but we don't end with a trophy. 90 gets booked and cries. This is perhaps the one 90-minute game where you can really let Gazza go, cool, I bet you enjoy today. There's no tarnished. Yeah. I mean, the one I'd throw in there is the the semi-final against Arsenal, right? Would probably be up there for him as well. Yeah, he runs that game and is fantastic. But yes, in terms of a crowning win, you winning a trophy on the day, being the best player on the pitch, scoring a hat trick, all of that stuff. And he is decisive in this game. You know, for all the talk of what I was saying about, you know, loving watching Laudrup. Gazza is rightly the player of the match of the game because he is the one that takes the game by the scruff of the neck and wins the game for Rangers. Yeah, and he really does take, you're absolutely right, he takes it by the scruff of his neck because that's what it feels like it does. It feels like the last 15 minutes it's like, right, come on. Even though the commentator has said something about Gazza's got a reputation for tiring in games, well actually for me the last 10 minutes is perhaps the best 10 minutes that he plays in this match. I think he's super. And so they've... won the title, they've done it, it's eight in a row. They will go on and they will win the cup final a few weeks later to make it a double. Gaza will get the Players Player of the Year and Football Writers of the Year award and will then trump his Scottish teammates at Wembley a few weeks later and almost make it the perfect summer for England. I know just inch away wasn't he with that that nearly scored that goal in the semifinal and it would have been could have been a perfect perfect year for him but so close yet so far but I really enjoyed it. I mean like you say I thought it was a high quality game. I was actually quite impressed with Aberdeen and and how much I know I say range of pretty dominant but in the game, but they did cause a threat and they they they didn't roll over in this match. It took moments of genius from Gaza to win it and I was really impressed watching the game. I mean before we get into the quiz question, is there any kind of final thoughts for you about this Rangers team and what

they achieve? It's a great Rangers team and I miss having Scottish football legends that you want like when I see an old film games on the telly I'll kind of go if I've got time I'll watch it but to have real sort of box office figures in Scottish football would have been such an exciting time for people that attended every week. And I think this is the peak of that. Walter Smith had a great time and a great career at Rangers. It starts to slide from this point on actually and obviously Rangers don't quite make it to 10 in the row. But that's also to do with the competitiveness of Celtic coming back. I suppose the only thing for me as a kind of thought about that decline is when I was looking at those financial figures, Rangers turnover in 96 and Rangers turnover now has only doubled. So they basically are turning over now double what they were turning over in 96. To give you a comparison of that Manchester United, who by the way were a lot more successful in 96 than they are now, their turnover has increased by over eight times from the same time period. So what's happened is English football has just pulled away financially so far from Scottish football and it just makes it so difficult for it to be really competitive, when it comes to a European level. It's so damn it. At this point, I would say the Scottish league and particularly Rangers and Celtic were, you'd argue, one of the top five or six leagues in in Europe, think, perception wise, I think they were up there. Now, it's so far off that I mean, they even Rangers and Celtic in terms of when you look through their squads. There's not that many that are getting in Premier League teams, let's put it that way, I would say even lower Premier League teams and it has dropped off quite a lot. And there's also a big thing at the moment, isn't there, with young Scottish players leaving and not because they and kind of coming down to English academies and it's real shame because I think as you say, Rangers and Celtic, but also Hearts and Hibs and Aberdeen are big clubs with really passionate fan bases and it would be great if there was ever a time where they as a nation and as a league could get back to their heyday. I think they need to be slightly more creative with the way they structure. the league competition in Scotland and some of the other competitions, but I've been told by people that follow Scottish football a lot more than me that basically the little television money that they do get depends on them being for old firm league games a year and they can't alter that. yeah, I think a bigger league might be good or something so they're not always the same teams playing each other and stuff. Yeah. More things to discuss about Scottish football as we go. Well, yeah, but talking about Scottish football heyday, so obviously you had the quiz question at the start. Why don't you remind everyone what the quiz question was? So since 1890, the Scottish League has been going, it's had various different names, but I'm looking for any team, and there are 11 of them, that has won a Scottish League title, the top flight. So Andy, let's have a go. How many can you get of the 11? Okay, so Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen. Right, great. So Celtic have won the most, they've won 56. Rangers won title behind 55. Aberdeen, joint third on the list with four titles, the last one coming under Ferguson in 85. Hearts. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they've also won four titles, last one in 1960. Hibs. Yeah, also four titles, the last one in 1952. Dundee United. Yeah, well done. Now that was the team that Goff played for. They've won it once in 1983. How many, Ma'am? So you've got six of the 11. Queen's Park? No, not on there. Good guess. Kilmarnock? Kilmarnock, yes. One at once in 1965. Dundee. Yes, one at once in 1962. And... So you've got three teams left. Two of them are no longer in existence and one of them is still a decent side in Scottish football. I'm going to struggle here. I think you might need to put me out of my misery. Okay, so the one that's still going is Motherwell. They won it in 1932. The two that no longer exist that are tough, Dumbarton, they won two league titles and then one that no one was going to get, but hey, it's every day's a school day. Third, Lanark. They won the title in 1904. They were a team from Glasgow that no longer exists. Great. Well, brilliant, brilliant question. And as we mentioned, this is part of a little series we're going to do now. So we are starting this Scottish series with this. We're going to look at the great Aberdeen team under Ferguson from the 80s. And we're going to focus on probably their greatest moment, which when they won the Cup Winners Cup. And then we're also going to look at Celtic and first game that Martin O'Neill takes over for Celtic and particularly focusing on Henrik Larsson for them, who is probably the kind of great player in that era. And so, yeah, we're going to do a mini series looking at Scottish football ahead of then a Christmas special, which we're going to keep back what that is. It's going to be a little bit of a departure for us, but we'll keep that one back as a teaser. But I've really enjoyed watching today and I'm really looking forward to watching those other games. I think they'll be quite Exciting and give me a bit of a different perspective on on Scottish football Well, I think the only thing left to say is do they think it's all over it is now